Any advice on how to get a 9 week pup to gain some weight? I've had him a week and he has had an irritable bowl/indigestion/loose stools...I took him off of his food that the breeder recommended, which seems to be the culprit, and I've had him on a mixture of rice/wet food, which has helped his stools firm up. But, my breeder says that husky pups typically gain approx 2lbs a week...he was 7.2lbs when we got him at 8 weeks, he wa down to 7lbs at his first vet exam, and now he is 7.4lbs at 9 weeks, which seems a bit low for me. I am wanting yo give him some extra nutrition/calories to get him back on track since he is a growing pup, but with his sensitive tummy issues, I'm not sure what I can give him that won't upset his tummy...I'm also looking for a good puppy food for him that will be easy on his tummy as well and won't give him constant loose stools...I've heard good things about orijen, but am open to suggestions at this point.

We had a similar problem with our little guy when we brought him home. The Purina puppy chow that the breeder had him on was part of the problem but he also had Coccydia and the vet treated him for that.

He was still runny after the course of medicine had finished and I had him re-tested but it was negative. That indicated that it was still the food so we did the wet food (Innova puppy) and rice. I was also worried about nutrition too. From a suggestion on this board, I started to add a large spoonful of pumpkin to his rice and wet food and that helped immediately. I then slowly integrated the Taste of the Wild puppy kibble to this mix. He is now on straight dry food and is doing well but it helps that Moose has not met a food that he didn't like.

That is what worked for us and hopefully you will hit upon the right combination. I think the pumpkin and the grain-free Taste of the Wild were the keys for us

Here's a good site to check out dry dog food.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

I'm a big fan of Orijen! My female started with IBS/loose stools when I first adopted her. I had to put her on home cooked meals to get her back on track, and I tried 3-4 different kibbles with her and found Orijen 6 Fish agreed with her tummy - no loose stools on Orijen for her.

If your pup is doing ok on rice/wet food for now, keep her on that until you can try out a couple of different puppy kibble. Since it sounds like she's got a sensitive tummy, you may want to transition kibble very slowly with her. It took me 5-6 weeks to completely transition my female from homecooked to Orijen. But in the process, I was able to figure out different intolerances that she has. When transitioning, add 1/8-1/4 cup of kibble to her rice/wet food and see how she does. If her stools are still firm, keep her there for a couple of days before you another 1/8-1/4 cup kibble (while decreasing rice/wet food by the same amount). If she's still doing OK after you've added kibble, then keep her at the mix for another couple days. This allows her tummy to 'settle' or adjust for a couple of days, before you add more kibble. Keep doing this routine with adding until you can get her transition 100% kibble. If at any time her stools start to get soft or runny, go back to the point where she was doing fine. Or if you've just started with a new kibble and she goes soft, then try a different kibble.

As for kibble, there are a few good puppy formulas listed on the website I referenced. I believe most of here on the forum try to feed at least a 4 or 5 star rating. If you find an 'all life stage' kibble, meaning it can be fed to puppies through adults, you might want to check the calcium to phosphorus ratios. I think that ratio is 1.2-1.5:1....I'll need to find that post here to confirm. Hopefully Val will chime in if she remembers off the top of her head...

Check your local pet food store to see if they have samples for you to try, or if they will accept the bag of food if you open it and it doesn't work for your pup. That way, you don't end up with a few different bags of kibble that doesn't work for your pup.

Ca:P for puppies should be between 1.2:1 to 1.5:1

Hi guys, thanks for responding. Well, when we got him, the breeder said that she had had one pup test positive for coccidia, so she sent us home with Albon to give him. I gave him the Albon, but he was still having the runs pretty bad, so I took him to the vet and she wanted to run all types of tests on him, which I was not prepared for, nor did I have the money to do so. So, we went home and I put him on a rice and wet food diet...I really only put a tiny bit of wet food in it, just for flavor. That helped firm up his stools really well. One day I gave him some treats that the breeder had given to us for him that are from the same brand that his food is made by(Life's Abundance) and he had the squirts...so I threw out those treats. After a few more days of his poop being consistently firm and normal..I started mixing in just a tiny bit of his dry food into the plain rice. He had the squirts and then soft-pudding-stool...I kept him on it for 2 of his meals the following day as well to see if maybe it would firm up, and it didn't. So, I decided that the food must be part of the problem and he must have some sort of intolerance to it. We got it from the breeder, it's called Life's Abundance and she swears by it...but from the day that we first brought him home, I noticed how soft his stools were and how bloated and gassy he was. I had originally bought him Taste of The Wild high prairie, but she had convinced us that it was too rich and( I had also heard that from others as well) that we should get the Life's Abundance...so we bought the $70 bag from her. We wanted to do what she said since she knows her dogs and has been feeding it to him since he was weened...but I just don't like it...it makes his tummy make a lot of noise and I can tell it doesn't agree with him...So, we are going to return it and get our money back. I have heard great things about Orijen 6 Fish and just Orijen in general being one of the best dog foods out there..that isn't too rich and tends to agree with dogs that have IBS/indigestion issues...Do you know if the Orijen 6 Fish is ok for puppies to eat? I have basically decided that I want to try Orijen..because I have heard such great things about it...I am just not sure about what formula I want to try with him...

Orijen 6 fish is an adult food, if I'm not mistaken. I haven't checked, but the Ca:P ratios may be too high for a pup. I think there is an Orijen puppy formula.

Have you tried doing a homecooked food so that he at least gets protein in his meals other than just rice? I'm surprised hes doing OK on rice as northern breeds tend to not do so well on grains. My female ate rice, but in the end threw it all up and NEVER digested it...this is how we found she has an intolerane to rice!

If Albon is doing OK on rice, try adding a little boiled chicken to add protein.

How much kibble are you tryng to give him with the rice?

Claudia's handling this pretty well so I'm going to leave this to her for the time being so I don't repeat everything she says. I am following this thread though even if I don't reply.

cmanding wrote:

Ca:P for puppies should be between 1.2:1 to 1.5:1

This statement is correct and applies to huskies which I know is the subject of discussion. However, I would like to point out that it doesn't necessarily apply to all dogs. I just want to make that clarification in case people have different breeds (now or in the future) and are checking Ca:P ratios for their puppies. Below is a bit more clarification that I've posted previously in a different topic on the ratios and what suits different size dogs for anyone's information.

Huskyluv wrote:

Okay let's start out by defining what Ca:P ratios a growing puppy should be getting in their food:
Small to medium breed puppies should have a ratio of Ca to P of 1.2:1 respectively.
Large breed puppies should have a ratio of Ca to P of 1.5:1 respectively.

Siberian huskies are a medium breed but we'll assume that they should have a Ca:P ratio of somewhere between 1.2-1.5 (Ca) to 1 (P).

Ideally you'd want to probably lean toward a lower Ca to P ratio like 1.2:1 because sibes are a medium breed. However it wouldn't be overly concerning or harmful if you opted for a higher Ca:P ratio like 1.5:1.

He has been doing well on the rice and I have recently been giving him boiled chicken along with it, instead of the wet food. He is still doing well on it. I am going to try the Orijen puppy food, but should I get the regular puppy or large breed formula? I read about the Ca to P ratio and how it should be 1.2:1-1.5:1 for huskies. When I mixed in his old dry food with the rice, it was probably a dry food to rice ratio of 1:5...but even with the small amount, he still did not tolerate it.

I believe husky puppies fall under the reg breed since they are not a large breed as adults

Go with the regular puppy formula for Orijen. Huskies are considered a medium breed.

Maybe Orijen will agree with his tummy....*paws crossed!

cmanding wrote:

Go with the regular puppy formula for Orijen. Huskies are considered a medium breed.

Ditto. There is no reason a sibe should be on any large breed formula regardless of brand.